Three Words
by OncomingBadWolf
Summary: She thought they might only be said once... how wrong she was. -- A Duplicate Doctor and Rose oneshot. Post Journey's End. --


Three Words

_I do not own doctor who._

_--_

She was scared the first time might be the last time. If it really were him – in one way or another – then wouldn't he be just as scared to say those words as the other him? She was afraid those three whispered words might be the last, as she had never heard them before. Like they were such a rarity that they could only be said once.

Rose was wrong though, they were said many times after that day on Bad Wolf Bay.

--

The second time they were said he was a little embarrassed really. They were sat side by side on a bus going through Tunisia; it was a mission for Torchwood they had taken only a few days after arriving in the parallel world.

The Doctor was staring at her. He swallowed, still staring and, quite suddenly, he blurted out the three words. She met his eyes immediately, and couldn't help but give a grin, to which he blushed.

She had never seen the man's cheeks turn red before, so this was quite a scene he was giving her. He began to babble slightly, his cheeks darkening all the more, so she stopped him with a kiss. Pulling away, he was shocked, and his features still rather red, but he grinned cheekily, and she placed her head on his shoulder.

--

The next was just before they made love the first time. She was in the hotel room, reading a book when he entered from the en suit.

He stood, leaning against the doorframe, just a towel round his waist. His hair was wet and flopped across his forehead; his smile was radiating on her alone.

Rose only peeked her eyes from her book slightly, a smirk heavy on her face as she watched him, thinking thoughts of things she could do to him that should probably remain in adult films.

He grinned cheekily at her, and she could not pretend she was reading anymore. Putting down her book she leaned back and asked him to come to bed.

He obliged and, later, as their bodies entwined, he whispered the oh-so-sweet words into her ear for another time. Hearing his voice say them again only increased the passion she felt.

--

The next was at a baby scan. She thought they were both too shocked to gasp out any words at all when they saw the baby on the screen, but the Doctor somehow managed to tear his eyes away from the monitor that cascaded such joy over him and turned to his lover.

Once he had told her the three quiet words, with his eyes slightly wet as he kept his hand in hers, she could do nothing but smile with incredible joy. Tears paraded freely down her face as she watched him, happier than ever.

Later that day, alone on their balcony by the sea, was when he proposed.

--

At three months pregnant she married him.

And after the vicar had happily pronounced them man and wife, he bent his lips to her ear and, once more, he whispered them. She took her hand in his, whispered the words back, and refused to let go of him for the rest of the day… and night.

--

The day their baby girl was born he watched her, their baby in her arms. He watched them both. His girls; they were all together, for as long as they shall live.

He stroked his daughter's head softly, bending down and kissing her brown hair.

Then he looked at his wife and told her another time, adding the word 'both' onto then end. She spoke them back, smiling through happy tears. He kissed her gently on the crook of her neck, putting his forehead on hers and they looked into one another's brown eyes.

--

After that there was more times than she could count, at the oddest of places. In the supermarket. At a parents evening. The birth of their son. The birth of their second daughter.

He would say it, or whisper it… once he shouted it. Each time would be a memory of golden light she would use in dark times.

Once, she was separated from him as he did battle against an alien in Africa. She was terrified for him, and after three days of no news she almost died with relief when he stood in the doorway of the house, looking worse for ware but none the less alive.

The first words he spoke to her as he walked in were those three precious words. She let them soak her up; she had been playing them over, coming from his lips, for so long, but hearing again for real gave her so many emotions.

--

He spoke the words many times after that. Many times. And Rose spoke them back each time, giving him a piece of her.

The last time he spoke them was the night she died.

It was as if he knew. Old but still beautiful in his eyes, he kissed her gently on the cheek one night and told her the words before she fell back onto her pillow. They were the last words she heard before she closed her eyes, never to open them again.

And she was happy.

--

_Reviews are always welcomed._


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